San Diego's budget-friendly activities

Belmont Park is a small amusement park that sits directly adjoining the sands of Mission Beach, one of the well-known beach areas of San Diego. You can stay for an hour, just taking in a ride or two, or you can make a whole day of it (by buying an all-day ride wristband and then sunning and swimming at the attractive adjacent beach.) Thus, the cost for your day can range from "zero" to a "moderate" figure, depending on the activities which you choose.

Belmont Park's main attraction is the Giant Dipper roller coaster. What a history this ride has! It actually opened way back in 1925! (That's when this amusement park originally opened.) The original park was popular for several decades, and then---as things tend to do---went downhill and eventually closed. The Giant Dipper was slated for destruction in the 1980s, but a group of sentimental, concerned citizens banded together to save the coaster. In a remarkable civic effort, they were able to get the Dipper designated as a National Landmark, and thus immune to the bulldozer. Financial backing was found, the coaster received a $2 million restoration, new rides were installed in the rest of the park, and voila! The shiny new Belmont Park reopened in 1990 and made a big hit with locals and tourists alike. You must be 50 inches tall to ride the Giant Dipper, but there are rides for the younger crowd as well. The Liberty Carousel is open to all ages and is a reproduction of an antique carousel, copied from photos in San Diego archives. Two "kiddie rides" include the Crazy Submarine (which takes kids up into the air and back down again in a circular motion) and the Thunder Boats (a kiddie boat ride). Guests 42 inches and above may ride:
(1) the Vertical Plunge, a small "tower" ride that lifts riders up high, then drops them down again quickly
(2) the Raceway Bumper Cars, though you must be 52 inches tall to do the driving
(3) the traditional Tilt-a-Whirl (go-round-and-round ride)
and (4) the Krazy Kars, a ROUND type of bumper car that also spins. For those 50 inches and taller, there's Chaos, a ride with cars that spin individually while the whole ride itself is going up into the air and revolving in a circle. Wild!

Also, new for 2005 is the Beach Blaster, another ride that spins you around, but this time, as you hang in a "suspended" ski-chair type of car, you swing from side to side like a pendulum! There are several extra-fee attractions, such as the Family Fun Arcade, offering video games, air hockey, and pinball machines. There's a rock-climbing wall and a trampoline. The Plunge swimming pool is another option. My favorite to watch (but not try!) is The Flow Rider, a wave machine that sends a never-ending wave for surfers to ride. I always wanted to learn to surf! So, I had some vicarious fun watching the surfers on this one!

Harbor Island and Shelter Island are two man-made islands in the San Diego harbor. They were both created from soil that accumulated when the harbor was dredged to deepen and widen the channels for naval ships. What an un-romantic beginning for two very beautiful, peaceful green oases away from the hustle-and-bustle of the city! If you love quiet times to sit and enjoy a beautiful view, I highly recommend that you visit one or both of these little finger-shaped islands while you're visiting San Diego. You'll get a double-treat view. The island parks are grassy green with mature shade trees, jogging paths, cute wooden benches, and plenty of parking. (That's the first treat.) On top of that (the second treat), you get to look out over the whole San Diego Harbor on one side of the island, plus enjoy viewing scenic small boat marinas on the other side. Especially if you visit during a weekday, you'll be one of the few visitors there, and you'll enjoy an afternoon of peace and serenity, as well as taking in the view. Some people prefer to jog or stroll while enjoying the islands. Others bring their poles and fish. Others bring their bikes, and still others prefer to read a book while sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree. Of course, visitors can also enjoy a harbor view from the touristy Embarcadero area in downtown San Diego instead. But, Harbor and Shelter Islands are just more tranquil.

How do you find them? From the famous Embarcadero area, just take Harbor Drive north and follow the signs. The Embarcadero has a visitor center where you can pick up a map. The map will show you how to find the two islands, plus a lot more. The islands are just two stops along a 59-MILE scenic car-tour route of San Diego! The scenic route is marked with blue-and-yellow signs, supposedly every quarter-mile, but some of the signs are missing, so it's better to have a map! After passing Harbor and Shelter Islands, the scenic route will take you by Point Loma, the Cabrillo National Monument, Ocean Beach, Mission Bay, and La Jolla before doubling back towards downtown and ending, once again, at the Embarcadero.

I've taken most of the 59-mile drive, and I can vouch for the fact that IF you like scenery, you'll LIKE this drive! As far as the two islands go, if you only have time to see one of them, I'd suggest Harbor Island. Even though they're both great, the views of downtown San Diego are so spectacular from Harbor Island and, even more importantly, it's the more tranquil of the two.

With a park as big and varied as Balboa Park is, I don't even know how to BEGIN to talk about it! After two trips to the park--once to see the world-class San Diego Zoo and another time to visit the San Diego Aerospace Museum--I still felt that I knew next to NOTHING about the park. I decided it was time to return to the park just to walk around and get an "overview" of all the many things available. As it turned out, just ONE time walking and "overviewing" STILL wasn't enough to see all that was there! I'm thinking that the giant, attraction-filled Balboa Park could provide for DAYS of budget-conscious activities, rather than just one or two visits!

First of all, the park has all the usual attractions that any city park has--children's playgrounds, sports fields, places to picnic, spacious green lawns for Frisbee, and trails for hiking and biking. Then there are a few more unusual activities: a dog park, lawn bowling, golf courses, a kiddie train and carousel, a puppet theater, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and a rose garden. Last, we get to the category of "completely-one-of-a-kind" items, the biggest of these being Museum Row. There are more museums than anyone could tour in DAYS! But, even just touring the outside of the buildings is a day-trip in itself. They're such lovely buildings, I just wanted to linger, stare, and take photos of them. These Spanish Colonial-style buildings were built originally for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, but they've been painstakingly cared for throughout the years, so that they're still as beautiful now as when the fair first opened! Or, more so because of the beautiful, mature landscaping that adorns each of them.

There are 10 museums alone that deal with various arts and cultures, plus three science museums (Aerospace, Natural History, and Reuben Fleet Science Center). Plus, there are museums covering anthropology, model railroading, sports, cars, San Diego history, international relations, and veteran's affairs. There are four theaters, including the gorgeous Casa del Prado and the Old Globe, a reproduction of the famous English original. Completing the picture are grand fountains, a Japanese garden, and a large pipe organ that gives free concerts every Sunday afternoon. At this point, I'm totally stumped as to what I'll try to see next whenever I return to Balboa Park! There are just too many possibilities!

If you're interested in historical sites, a visit to the San Diego Mission, one of the most historic places in all of California, should be right up your alley. I like historical sites, and this one particularly interested me because I studied California history in elementary school, as California students still do. The current building is not the original mission, which was established in 1769. What you'll be touring is a combination of a renovation (of parts of the building as it was in 1813), plus "new" buildings (constructed in 1931) that were built to LOOK like that same 1813 structure. You'll be able to see two different sanctuaries. The larger one, called the Mission Church, is home to Catholic services, because Mission San Diego remains an active Catholic Parish! (In fact, on the day I toured the Mission, I had to wait until a funeral service was over before I could tour the sanctuary area.) The smaller sanctuary, La Capilla (ka-PEE-ya), remains in use as well. Both sanctuaries feature lovely altar areas.

The mission's beautiful bell tower is probably the first thing that you'll notice about the building as you arrive. It still has one of its original bells--the large bell with a "crown" on it. Bells were important to mission life back before timepieces were readily available. The ringing of the bells called the mission's occupants to church services, work, and meals. One part of the mission that I felt was really special was Father Serra's quarters. Father Serra was the religious leader of the expedition whose goal was to establish a chain of missions in California. (This humble room was amazing to be in, just knowing the importance it held to California's history.) Eventually, there came to be 21 missions, each established at approximately one day's journey from the one before it.

Today, Mission San Diego also features lovely gardens planted with Western flora and featuring religious statues. Your self-guided tour begins and ends in the gift shop, which helps raise money for the continued care of the Mission buildings. Admission is $3/adults and $1/children. No food or drink is sold or permitted at the Mission.

Presidio Park is easy to find. Not only is it adjacent to Interstate 5 (with its exit clearly marked), but also its imposing Spanish-style main building can be clearly seen from the Interstate (and used as a visual guide.) Despite being frequently seen by passersby, Presidio Park remains one of those sights that many people never get around to exploring. Why not? Well, perhaps because the park isn't "exciting." Its main feature is lots and lots of greenery, but no playgrounds or sports fields. Here, you can picnic, stroll along the park's trails, and just "feel tranquil." The park's other main attraction is its one beautiful building. Sad to say, that building isn't the original Presidio (fort), nor even a copy! (It's just called Presidio Park, because this was the SITE of San Diego's original Presidio.)

The attractive building is actually a museum, the Junipero Serra Museum, named after the Franciscan friar who led the religious portion of the expedition to California (that resulted in the founding of 21 missions spread out--a day's journey apart--between San Diego and San Francisco.) Presidio Hill was also the site of the original 1769 Mission San Diego, which soon moved to its own site further inland. Excavations at the park continue so that further remnants of the past can be discovered. Inside the Serra museum are house wares and other artifacts relating to various periods of San Diego's history: Native American, Spanish, independent Mexico, and finally, American. The museum's cost is $5/adults and $2/children. (The park's grounds, however, are free.)

The park itself is quite large, so if you have come to picnic or stroll, you may wish to drive along the park's loop-shaped road first (so you can preview the entire park and decide which part you'd best like to explore.) Several parts of the park have formal names. There's Inspiration Point at the hill's summit, where you can get an outstanding view of Mission Valley and Mission Bay below. Back down the hill, there's Palm Canyon, an area that has lush landscaping, with plenty of palms, as the name suggests. It's adjacent to the Eucalyptus Grove, which features the fragrant eucalyptus tree. The Padre Cross is an area featuring a cross built in 1913 and made out of floor tile pieces from the original Presidio. In this area, you'll find trails and other statuary. The Arbor, of course, is a supportive structure for plants, and it's a beautiful example of an arbor. When you're finished seeing the museum, taking your stroll, and eating your picnic, you might wish to visit the Old Town State Historic Park, featuring homes and stores from San Diego of the past, which is only a few blocks away from Presidio Park.

Right now, the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is in a partial state of flux. The park's powers that be have kicked the fun and lovely attraction, Bazaar del Mundo, from their property. (This was a Mexican-style shopping/dining complex that was very popular with locals and tourists alike.) Not only was Bazaar del Mundo popular, but it was also the state of California's most profitable park concession. It doesn't, therefore, make sense to many people to have closed the place down. The answer to this riddle lies in the fact that the park's bigwigs didn't feel that the Bazaar del Mundo was authentic enough. So, now another company has been hired to make a more authentic-looking area out of the buildings that, until May 2005, housed the Bazaar. You and I will just have to wait to see the results. (Meanwhile, the Bazaar del Mundo is building a new facility on the Embarcadero that will probably become even MORE popular than before, because that area is more visible and tourist-filled!) I just have to scratch my head.

Many of the old buildings in the state park contain shops selling trinkets to the visitors. Sure, the buildings themselves are authentic, but the stores inside them aren't. In fact, the stores get in the way of one of my favorite activities at a historic park, which is trying to imagine what it would have been like to live in that place and time.

Nevertheless, the Historic Park has many good points. It is quite large, and you could spend all day there--or more--if you were to examine every building and exhibit thoroughly. The park consists of restored homes and businesses situated around a LARGE public square, the Plaza de las Armas. One interesting old building is the San Diego Union Printing Office. Wood was scarce in old San Diego. Most of the original buildings were made of sun-dried adobe. Yet, this building—and some of the others—is a wooden structure that looks like it belongs in New England. Well, that's because this building DID come from New England! It was prefabricated in Maine, then shipped around Cape Horn. What a story! You'll also visit a school, a blacksmith shop, stables (with an old-fashioned carriage display), a wood shop, a sheriff's museum, and a dental display. There are original homes and also original businesses, such as the Colorado House, which was a hotel, saloon, and gambling hall. (It now houses a Wells Fargo History Museum.) There's the interesting Casa de Estudillo (es-too-DEE-oh), which once was the home of the commandant at the nearby Presidio. There are restaurants, but these, too, are in a state of flux as the park prepares to "authenticize" further. Entrance to the park and exhibits is free.